Today is a simple day. Not too much exciting going on, nothing extravagant and no big plans. I like simple days. But I did awake this morning longing for something, longing for my life lived today to make a difference in someone else’s life.  To be back in a place of loving on someone in the ways they need it. This can be simple to.

There’s one person in particular that keeps flooding my mind. The only problem is that I only saw her once, do not know her name and am not sure where to find her. (sounds like I’ve lost my mind and am speaking of an imaginary friend!) I promise I’m not. The past 4, going on 5, days now, this woman has filled my mind and prayers. You see, I was on my way to Trader Joe’s last Wednesday and was driving by Lake Calhoun, there at a stoplight was a woman standing in the median. I remember every detail about her appearance. She had jeans and tennis shoes on, bundled up in a navy blue windbreaker with the hood tied tight around her head and dark gloves she clung tight to. I don’t know how many hours she’d been standing there but she didn’t look warm, she had a look of worry and exhaustion, almost a pleading face. She held in her hands a simple sign, it read:

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Homeless, with kids

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As I sat there, I went through what I had in the Jeep with me at the time… no cash, no food to give this woman. But why is food always the first thing we think of when we see someone pleading for help? Yes, food is a necessity but really – wouldn’t this woman have wanted to sit down with someone at a coffee shop and just share her life, her real needs, her dreams? Just someone to talk to rather than being handed a banana? Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m sure she’s thankful for whatever she was given that day but when you think about the needs of a human heart, they’re much greater than some bread.

She’s flooded my mind because in those two minutes at the stoplight, I didn’t avoid eye contact like we try to most of the time, of course I didn’t stare into her eyes either but I observed, trying to think of what I could do for her and what her needs may really be. How many kids does she have? What happened to bring her to this point in her life? What experience has she gone through without anyone to help support her? Where do they stay at night… a friends? a shelter? I thought on all these things and decided I could go buy her a bag of groceries at Trader Joe’s then come back and talk with her… but the reason she’s flooded my mind the past 5 days is because I didn’t do that. I didn’t go back. I didn’t get extra groceries at the store. I didn’t offer to taker her to a Caribou and just listen to her. But you know what, I want to go back to that place, I want to find her. I want to apologize for not just rolling my window down and asking her a little question, “What do you need most?”

This morning as I was sitting quietly at the table eating breakfast and reading my Bible, I was praying that God would show me what opportunity I have today to love on someone, to be His hands and feet in someone’s life today outside my home. This women continues to bombard my thoughts. And I’ve decided I will go back to that spot this afternoon, even if she is not there, I need to go to the spot she was standing, stand there and pray. Is it odd to want to go stand in a median if no one else is there? Sure, but I wonder how she felt standing there for hours last Wednesday pleading with anyone to help her out. I hope she is there, I hope she has a moment to talk, not because I need to pity her, but because I want to know what she needs, I want her to know that someone’s been thinking about her, praying for her and wants to walk beside her to help.

I’m not sure what will come of it, but I know I have to return to that spot and see what God may have there for me to do. And next time, I won’t pass up the opportunity at the moment. God’s asked us and me specifically to care for the poor, love on those who need it most.

A few years ago, we were driving in NYC with a few youth group kids and we came upon a man standing on the road asking for food or money. We rolled the window down and without thinking, gave him some cash we had. One of the kids asked us how we knew he wasn’t going to waste it. It was a pretty profound moment in youth ministry because we love living life with teens, but even more so when it’s the deep things of life (though often simple) that we can respond to. My response: we have no clue how he might spend it or if he really needs it, but God’s prompted and asked us to give and so we must obey that… give and pray that it will be a blessing. I’d rather obey God and have the money wasted, than not obey and wonder! And so that’s my philosophy.

I feel as though I didn’t listen and obey on Wednesday but I’ve learned as I’ve thought on the situation and that precious woman’s life. Am I sure that she is so desperately in need? No, I have no clue what she really needs or if she’s really in need, but I know that something prompted her pleading and that something is important.

I hope I come back with her name, a precious story of her life and that I can give her hope and love. But she may not be there, I may never find her but I have to go back… I have to obey. So today, I’ll go, I”ll use this simple day to follow God into an unknown place.

Quite appropriate that the song on my iTunes right now as I close this post is:

LOVE LEAD THE WAY
(Stefan Van Voorst)

For such a time as this,
to show the world love wins

Love, lead the the way,
lead the way to Kingdom come

Love show the way,
show the way Your will is done

…

I hope that you will find someone to love on today, to show them that love wins!

-SCK

Well, well, well, TGIF! as we used to say in my family! Now, TGIF wasn’t used when I was a kid as a proclamation of wanting the week to be over and have a weekend of relaxing – back in the day, it was an ABC network brand used for the shows that aired during prime time on Friday nights! Good ole ones like Full House, Family Matters and Boy Meets World.  Wow, I really miss that last one! ha. As I did a quick Google search for TGIF, I read through the Wikipedia page dedicated to this! Wow… how shows have changed in the last 15 years! From Full House to Wife Swap… eek! What a shift in the paradigm of entertainment! The wikipedia page for TGIF is rather interesting if you’re a fact-geek like I can be sometimes! Check it out! I assure you that you’ll be reminded of some of your favorite past television sitcoms that you’ve long forgotten.

I have random thoughts filling my life today – things to put on my to-do lists, things I need and want to research, meal planning that needs to be done, food changes I’m deciding to make this year for our family and what Lil’ Miss and I might do tomorrow while our main man is at an all-day seminar… I love lists and just the task of making a list can make me feel like I’ve accomplished something! Often I get made fun of by that main man for the lists of lists that I have around the house. But I can’t help it, lists help me function!

So today, I have two lists to get done – a To-Do List for the next few days and I want to sit down and write out some 2012 goals! I recently was reading some goal-setting tips from Money Saving Mom and have decided I’d like to take some of her advice and set goals for the year within certain areas then break them down to monthly & even some weekly goals. I think tomorrow, while I’m a lone parent, I may work on those goals! Some of them already in my mind include:

- healthier eating around here (we already are pretty healthy but I know we can always adjust things and be better consumers of REAL food)

- go on two international trips this year (might be Uganda to visit family, Costa Rica to see friends, Europe to eat my favorite foods, or somewhere new!)

- be better (with a written plan) about snail mail and encouraging friends & family members in the ways God’s gifted me to do so (I love doing this – letters, notes, gifting things I know someone will love, etc but I’ve gotten lazy with it and that’s not sitting well with me anymore because I know that’s one way God’s gifted me to care and love others!)

Those are just three quick ones at the front of my mind, I assure you there are tons more goals that I want to accomplish this year! And when my list is complete (or at least put together more as I’m sure new ones will come every time I look at Pinterest) I’ll post it for you to see and help keep me accountable of my progress!

Today’s a down day – staying put as the Seminary-hubby works on Greek and Church History. It’s flurrying here – in the lightest possible sense of the word but it’s signs of winter nonetheless so I’ll take it… hope the snow showers expected tonight turn into a lot more! I love snow and would love to wake up to snow-covered trees tomorrow morning!

It’s on to accomplishing today’s goals – looking for some cute little leather shoes for Lil Miss, making my to-do list for this weekend, planning dinner tonight and figuring out something fun to do this afternoon as a family… maybe a family date to Caribou is in the near-future!

Hope you are having a great day whatever you are doing! What are some of your goals for 2012, or this month even?! If you don’t have any yet, think on it and let me know!

 ENJOI today, take time to smile at someone else and wish them a happy weekend!

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Much love & Many hugs

-SCK

Thanks for hanging in there while I get my rear back in gear! Everyday I have so many thoughts about posts and the things I’d like to sit down and write about… then mommy-hood takes over and the feeding, changing and playing control my schedule!

So, where were we?! After our travels out east, we made a long journey to the great state of Texas! My parents are currently stationed there (Air Force people) and I love going to visit them for a whole host of reasons besides the obvious loving to be with my family! Other reasons include:

1. Good Mexican Food @ Ponchos
2. We don’t know anyone else besides my parents so it’s a drastic difference from NJ
3. We visit Mexico, by the dam, on the bridge.
4. Rudy’s BBQ, need I say more.
5. Visiting San Antonio & the Riverwalk
6. Del Rio (Laughlin AFB) is a flight training base and the sounds of AF planes above my head bring instant pride and a joyous jump to my little heart!
7. It’s always a welcomed warmth from the northern winter chill
8. Free gym to workout at!
9. I get to hear all the juicy stories of things going on around base – yes, this is a big empty hole in my being since I moved out of the house!
10. I get enjoy my parents and the things in my house that make it feel like home! Antiques, dishes, etc! My mom even kept out a box of ornaments and the tree topper for me to put on the tree this year!
11. I am a TEXAN! Yup… I was born in the great state and those family members who live there take great pride in that fact as do I!

Now, Del Rio isn’t exactly what you would call a vacation spot… heck, most people don’t even know it exists when they get orders to move there! But I happen to like that little corner of the US even though it feels more like Mexico when you’re not on base! The locals are fantastic and if you just look a bit harder than normal, you find plenty to do and explore! From the Rio Grande, kayaking on the river, exploring old caves, enjoying the massive ranch expanses… and one thing my parents and family has always been good at is finding adventure and fun things to do wherever we are! I remember the first time we flew in directly to Del Rio, it looked like the pilot was just choosing to land in the middle of nowhere… and well, he was! Ha. I remember my words as we began the final decent was, “Where the h*ll are we?!” But over the past 3 years, I’ve come to like Del Rio and will be a bit sad to see my parents move this summer.

We enjoyed two and a half weeks with the ‘rents. It was gloriously relaxing and fun. So fun to watch my parents love on the lil miss too! My sister’s family was there for Christmas too! So, here’s another snapshot of our December vacation! (Because there’s so many pics I wanted to put on here, you can click the thumbnail to enlarge the photo)

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All in all, we had a lovely December and feel so fortunate to be able to travel to visit family and friends. As well as to be in a spot where we can take a month to do so! That wraps up our 2011 & travels! As my Dad always says, “Always have your next trip planned…” I’m not sure where our next trip will be but we’re working on it! You can have that tid bit of advice for free today!

Plan a trip today – small or large, a simple adventure to explore another piece of the world is always a good thing to do!

Enjoi today!

 -SCK

As the snow fell this morning around MN it covered the ground in a beautiful blanket of white! Winter has arrived, for today anyway. The temps are supposed to be back towards 40 this week which is a bit of a bummer to this gal since I love a winter wonderland! But alas I’ll enjoy it today and know that it’s pretty much a promise in this state that snow will come and go until around March! Enjoying today means that I’ve made some Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies to enjoy with a Chai Latte in a big ol’ Polish pottery mug… it doesn’t get much better than that!

So while I’m cuddled up with my cookies & tea and my baby is sleeping, I thought I’d share a bit of what our Christmas season looked like! Just a note – the next two posts will be about our December and you can certainly expect tons of photos!

We spent the beginning two weeks of December out east in the land of pizza and bagels – New Jersey! We visited with gobs of people, took in our fair share of the doughy-goodness the area’s known for and enjoyed time with the Klingen side of the family! Spending time in Manhattan was a MUST as well as time with old youth group kiddos (many who are now in college) and visiting with everyone we could!

Here’s a peek into our trip!

Where it all began... Brooklyn's first trip to the Empire State Building!

NYC Christmas window decor!

Brooklyn meeting the ladies at Lighthouse Pregnancy Resource Center, where I used to work!

Celebrating Christmas with Graham & Pop at the lake house!

B's Christmas gifts from Graham & Pop!

Christmas dinner party with our old Youth Group Teens! LOVE these teens!

Our dear friend, and Brooklyn's "uncle" Vince!

Meeting Auntie Becky II

Meeting another honorary Tio!

She was a trooper through all our traveling!

Sweet friends from Tucanes, Costa Rican restaurant! Fav place in NJ!

While our trip was a tad exhausting since there’s close to 1985343 people to visit while we’re there, it was a good time and we enjoyed celebrating Christmas with Keith’s parents. We left NJ and headed south to TX to spend the next two and a half weeks with my family! Come back tomorrow to see more about that part of our Christmas season!

Enjoy today and be sure to partake in a cup of hot goodness (coffee, hot chocolate, tea – whatever you prefer!) to celebrate this wintery day!

-SCK